If you need a gun, don't go?

This is a discussion on If you need a gun, don't go? within the Concealed Carry Issues & Discussions forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; Some times it's hard to avoid a bad part of town. My job sent me to some bad areas at all times of day or ...

Some times it's hard to avoid a bad part of town. My job sent me to some bad areas at all times of day or night. I've walked in on a robbery of a grocery store early one morning and lucked out they didn't see me. I don't look for trouble and will avoid it any way I can. I do go prepared.

Four months. It wouldn't, I was unarmed when I went to that dojo. I am trying to figure out whether it is morally responsible for me to go into a similar situation when I am armed and an attack on me could end up in someone getting shot.

Even though the area gave me a weird feeling, I decided that it was worth it to go to the dojo because I really enjoyed studying there. Would it be right for me to go there, though, if I was armed?

Sure, keep going there.
Don't go looking for trouble and it usually won't find you either. Don't think of having the gun as a shield from harm, better to stay out of bad situations in the first place. The very last thing that you want to go to is the gun.

The reason I plan to CC (once this freaking wait is over!!!) is because I think I will NEED to take steps to secure my own safety in any and every situation. I can't throw anything 1200 fps on my own. And they haven't invented teleportation for cops yet. I would never go into any area/situation where I felt like it was a threatening place voluntarily, unless say...my husband or son were in danger.

As a rule, I don't go looking for trouble. As another rule, I would rather have been prepared for SHTF situation and never need to rely on any type of force, than be in a SHTF situation and need something (weapon, training, etc) and not have it.

Martial arts are fantastic for many reasons. I prefer BJJ because as a 5'4" female, it's easier for me to go to ground and use my low center of gravity, or my knowledge of basic physics and body mechanics, than try to kick/punch our otherwise outmaneuver a bigger, stronger assailant. That said, if he's got a weapon, and my life is in imminent danger, screw BJJ. It doesn't help that I can pop an elbow out of it's capsule or choke a man when he's got a loaded gun pointed at my face. Hence CC.

Makes sense--no not a fool/ wise

Originally Posted by Freedom Doc

You mean, like working as a clerk in a c-store in a not so great part of town? I do that, most days. I don't consider myself a fool. But I have 2 guns at full disposal when I'm there, and stay alert, because you just never know.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that folks like you are fools. You have to earn a living. I'm talking about folks who think that because they are armed they can do stuff they wouldn't otherwise do.

If your occupation is inherently dangerous, I don't see where you have a choice with regard to SD; and being a clerk in certain kinds of stores is certainly dangerous.

There are places that I probably 'could' go but depending upon the time of day/night, I may choose not to go.
I do not worry about the casual danger of most places as trouble can lurk almost anywhere.
Probably more important than the 'place' is one's attentiveness to the 'place'.
Depending upon the need, I go where ever I have to go...and I'll be alert and armed.

i don't look for a fight, nor do i want a fight, but i try to prepare for the inevitable. crime is on the rise in orlando i think we were #6 on the recent top crime cities. that being said i always have my .45 on me. if i'm going to or through a shady part of town for whatever reason and i know ahead of time i'll put the .357 in the consol b/c it'll shoot through my door if need be. if i'm going out w/ my friend i'll bring my 9 so ineed if **** does hit the fan i now he knows how to shoot why leave him defenseless. that said..again i hope i never have draw let alone shoot my weapon

I live in a nice suburb but I work in a hell whole called Highland Park. For people not familiar with this area, it's a mostly industrial area considered as a part of Detroit. We have had our work vehicles broken into many times and the police do little or nothing in the area. They have even told us on more than one occasion that this is, "Just part of doing business here."
Personally I have never had any real problems with the denizens of HP. I credit this to what I was taught many years ago by my Kung fu instructors, Carry yourself with confidence, act like you belong there and nothing bad is likely to happen to you. Act like a frightened tourist and your inviting bad things.
I can't carry at work due to company policy. I disagree with it but it is not worth losing my job. If it were not for my job, I would not be bothered to go into Highland Park armed or not.
Every time I strap on my gun, I pray I never have need to use it.

I avoid places in general where stupid and or violent people congregate. That's guaranteed to substantially lessen your need to use a gun (or your hands and feet) for self-defense. It doesn't ELIMINATE it.

Not so long ago, six women were shot in the head in a Lane Bryant clothing store in Tinley Park, Illinois. I've been to Tinley Park on numerous occasions. It doesn't SEEM like THAT dangerous of an area. However thinking adults realize that it only takes ONE person to make his immediate vicinity as dangerous as Tarawa on day one of the invasion. If those six women could have accurately predicted that those conditions were going to prevail in THAT Lane Bryant, in THAT town, on THAT day, I'm sure they wouldn't have been there. Apparently, none of them had those powers of precognition.

Apparently, the State of Illinois also thought it preferable that five of the six be murdered execution style than for any one of them to be able to defend herself and the others.

We cannot know with certainty what would have happened had just one of those women been allowed to lawfully carry a concealed firearm for her self-defense. We know to a certainty what happened when none of them could.

To me I take this statement to mean that if I know that a criminal is robbong a store I won't go in there. I would not knowingly go into a situation where I need a gun, except to protect family.

This is not to say you should stay away from a store at all times, only when you know for a fact it is dangerous. There is a difference between knowing you will need a gun and knowing that it might be possible.

Quote: You have to remember, the equation is not just the odds you will have to shoot someone, it includes the chances of you being seriously injured or killed also.

Originally Posted by JerryM

I agree. I have the impression that that is not something many consider. The fact that one has a gun does not insure survival. .... Except in very exceptional circumstances I would not go anywhere with a gun that I would go without one.

My permit instructor said, "If you think you need a gun [to go somewhere], then don't go there", and this rang true. My bearing a gun (or not) does not weigh on my decision to go somewhere questionable. The point of the words, IMHO, is never to use a gun as a security blanket or crutch.

My permit instructor said, "If you think you need a gun [to go somewhere], then don't go there", and this rang true. My bearing a gun (or not) does not weigh on my decision to go somewhere questionable. The point of the words, IMHO, is never to use a gun as a security blanket or crutch.

ALL of my relatives in Chicago live in places I'd prefer not to visit without a gun. I can't bring a gun and I visit them anyway. I don't like it.

If you know you will need a gun, don't go there. That is common sense.

If it is likely you will need a gun, don't go there. That too is common sense.

Carry for SD is necessary because there is always risk which is unpredictable.

Only a fool (or LE or Soldier or armed professional) would knowingly and deliberately put themselves in a place where a gun is likely to be needed.

I don't know of any place where I KNOW I would need a gun or even a place where it's likely. Iraq, maybe?

In my younger days I was a pinball & jukebox mechanic, and was sent to some of the worst places in several towns, even a bar under an infamous whorehouse. This was before legal CC came to the state, but I carried one anyway. (the vastly underappreciated FIE Titan .25).

I don't think I would do it these days. But I have a permit now, so that's academic.